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Re the coins I think the problem was that the $1 came first and maybe at that time there were no plans for further gold coins. Then when it was decided to introduce the $2 coin well there was nowhere else to go but smaller really. I'd like to see an end to the 5c piece soon too!!

Now 'bouyay' you have actually got me there - I'm not sure what it refers to but hopefully someone else can shine some light on the matter.

Aussie Aussie Aussie - perhaps from the Sydney Olympics - I'm not sure but no matter I'm just glad that we have it!

And Mel
"Hey stormbird - the sizing of the AUS $1 and $2 coins has always perplexed me, but makes it easy to differentiate between NZ coins which are the opposite."

Those dirty mongrel Kiwis dis that on purpose not to differentiate them but to slip in $1 coins to Oz and get $2 value!
Got one as a $2 in change one time and so next trip over I reckon I might come back with a couple of thousand in coins - double my money and pay for next holiday.

And of course I'll be taking a couple of thousand in coin over with me too, $1s to swap for $2s

'Cairns' is most commonly as 'kens' but with the 'e' sound lengthened.

If I have to qualify on all those criteria you'll have to put me down as a stateless person. That's OK - it's really more a test to establish whether you're a bogan* or not. And patriotism is so last week anyway.

kiwi_rob, a 'bong' is a kind of water pipe or hookah used primarily for smoking marijuana.

* A somewhat kinder version of the US term "trailer trash". We don't have many people living in trailers (caravans), so bogans have to live in houses.

Item header in "Kens Post" today: (actually I think I do pronounce the "r" in Cairns slightly, but I'm from Sinney).

"Bonged-up Woman Exposes Herself" ............."she said she'd had about 10 bongs (of marijuana) earlier in the morning and took off her clothes as she was feeling great and didn't know naked bathing in public Lagoon was illegal" said the police prosecutor.

But to answer your question it is illegal in Australia, pretty sure in all states though some states do not register a criminal conviction against those who have personal quantity.

But in the case of being out in public, there are random police checks with sniffer dogs in use at railway stations and sports and entertainment venues, particularly at what are called the Big Day Out music concerts held around Australia.

Do not even think of bringing any in with you for it could lead to you being denied entry and put on next plane back.

So whilst it is openly used by people at private parties and in their homes, it is far from being accepted by the authorities.

I'm not so sure that I'm entirely happy at being held out as an example of old fartedness on this site but, I suppose, I'd have to admit to being closer to Old Fart than to Spring Lamb. One thing about being an OF, though. People usually get your drift quite quickly.

Thank you for rounding out my education on the bong issue. With that new word in my vocabulary, I have been trying to fit it into my conversations wherever possible today. It has been bong this, bong that, bong, bong, bong. People are starting to think that I'm bloody Skippy!

Stormbird. I'm sorry for the way in which my query has caused your thread to be diverted. Please forgive me.

Well seeing as we're onto sexual activities
I'm not too sure but reckon you'll know you're in Australia if you go for a walk on a quiet beach and
'What's that pair doing over there? with legs akimbo and a towell for some privacy'
Yep, school holidays over, beach more than a bit windy and deserted this afternoon and they were at it I'd reckon.

No where else has beaches quite as deserted or warm enough
Amazingly it was not as though they had the beach to just them and me either!
But then the Gold Coast is even busier and possibly busier still for the cavorting, eveb seen[from a distance] without a towell!

By the way, Stormbird, I'd like to add another indicator of how you know if you're Australian --- If you knock the bails off the stumps and then pretend that the batsman was bowled. Sheesh! The underarm incident all over again!

Author: kiwi_rob
Date: 02/01/2009, 09:59 pm
Yeah, but I'd blow into the thing to try to make smoke rings!

By the way, Stormbird, I'd like to add another indicator of how you know if you're Australian --- If you knock the bails off the stumps and then pretend that the batsman was bowled. Sheesh! The underarm incident all over again!
.......................
I agree Rob, at best wishful thinking on the part of Hadden and though a keeper would have his eyes on the ball and feel through to hand from gloves may not be all that great, I'd have liked him on seeing replay [which would have been on a screen] to motion to the umpires that he had knocked the stumps.
Bloody poor umpiring on the part of SL Ump [must have been asleep] and then third umpire had to be blind.

Well, youse can say what you like about the Big Pineapple, but nothing wrong with their macadamia nut sundaes. Stormbird, isn't it just down the road from a huge black and white fibre glass cow, or has that gone? Probably called the Big Cow. My kids used to clamour to stop there when they were little.

Author: stormbird
Date: 02/04/2009, 06:19 am
Yeah yeah, well, we've moved on from the cricket now .....what was it youse was saying about the Big Pineapple......
..........................
Not the way of true blue Aussies at all stormbird to dismiss bad sportmanship so easily.
I recall another wicketkeeper who wasn't around all that long taking an alleged catch a few decades back, before Heales was around.

He had to know it was a ricochet job and that sort of stuff don't make this true blue Oz proud at all - actually worse than underarm Rob because that was within the rules if not spirit of fair competition - taking dismissals you know are not so is just cheating!

My apologies to all fair minded sports loving kiwis Rob on behalf of any Aussies who want to feel how I do, for both this recent event and on behalf of Greg Chappel.

Ironically, I remember Rod Marsh, the wicketkeeper of the team in total disbelief at Greg's direction and his sentiment was shared by many Australians then too.

I suppose that we all expect our sporting icons to epitomise all that is best in whatever the particular sport is and hope that they will always "do the right thing" in any circumstances. Inevitably, the heat of the moment and personalities will militate against this on occasions and, as a result, we feel let down. It's as if our collective reputation has been tarnished somewhat.

But we must be strong and move on! With that in mind, for myself and the other 157 fair minded sports loving kiwis, I accept your gracious apology, Bushranger.

I was in Australia for 6 weeks last summer and my curiosity got the better of me and I must admit I stopped by the big pineapple. I was home exchanging in Kawana Waters (Sunshine Coast) at the time.

I did like the decorated mailboxes I saw. We don't have them in the US. By the way I saw them in country areas but I definitely never made it to the real outback--just sort of sparsely populated towns inland in Queensland.

I saw road trains NW of Toowoomba and brought back a T-shirt that says, "Toowoomba, where the hell is it?" If that same shirt were manufactured for the US market, they would have probably cleaned it up (as in "Where the heck is it?"). I liked the Aussie version better.

But yes, I do remember the Moobal one, think the new motorway now bypasses the stretch.

There are enough restrooms about the countryside that Australians are not so ignorant that they do not know the word is more prevalent elsewhere and one that can infer tha's where a toilet might be found.

You're right Bushranger, the new highway does bypass Moobal,northern NSW; was there last year, wonderful juicy strawberries dipped in chocolate - cow themed, yes, but nothing on the monster that loomed over the highway in SE Qld, a few kms north of Big Pineapple near Nambour. It used to be a tourist-farm type thing designed for kids, I just googled it and now it seems to belong to a furniture shop.

When I was a kid there were restrooms in many country towns in Queensland. These were usually built and maintained by the Country Women's Association. They were indeed rest rooms with a WC attached if the women were lucky or a thunderbox or even long drop out the back.

The rest rooms usually had a couple of chairs and the facilities for making a cuppa and changing a baby's nappy.

There is one still in operation in the main street of Mareeba. They have a toilet around the back for the gents too.

We live in the North of England and have just returned from a 6 week trip to Queensland in Australia to visit our daughter who emigrated last year.
We loved Oz and were amused to find a lot of the humour and "terms" were typically from the North of England.
Our grandfathers who were almost all coal miners said "singlet" meaning vest.
"Youse" is scouse (Liverpool) for "you" and many other terms were familiar to us from our childhood.
We were amused at the chip shops everywhere, selling "barramundi and chips" instead of cod and chips.
Mushy peas have not taken off as yet, but I did have a "pie float" which was steak pie, mushy peas and gravy.
Typical North of England "fare" but I did notice that meat and potato pie is not available.Maybe someone should patent it.
We loved the Aussie political incorrectness and freedom of speech, even on tv. Someone was referred to as a "silly bugger" on the News on T.V. Hilarious!!
And yes, Max Boyce a Welsh comedian was definately the founder of Oggy Oggy Oggy oi oi oi.(now Aussie)
However one question. We were constantly referred to as "poms". Not a problem, but we always thought it was "pohms" and meant "prisoners of her Majesty", but locals said it means "prisoners of the mother country" which is right?
Also if I still live in the UK, surely it's the Aussies who are the poms (prisoners,or descendants of) Just a thought. Discuss! lol

I'm so pleased you had such a great time downunder. I'm sorry you missed out on a meat and potato pie - commonly referred to here as a cottage pie - for the life of me I don't know how you missed that one.

I have to agree that there is a lot to love here including our political incorrectness, freedom of speech etc.

Now the origin of POMS - well good luck with that one. I'm sure we'll get a few opinions about it - I have none - it doesn't matter to me - I know that when I refer to someone as a Pom it is intended with the greatest affection and generally you will find that no malice is intended when that title is used.

I've heard some say that the term originated by comparing the English rosy cheeks to pomegranites (sp?).

Hello Marly - if it helps, the stand-alone use of the term 'Pom' or 'Pommy' is usually without malice; used as a 'Pommy so-and-so' it is usually derogatory, to varying degrees (depending on how much of a downright 'Pommy so-and-so' the 'Pommy-so and-so' is adjudged to be).

The convict taint is a non issue these days - in fact a (distant) convict connection is usually highly prized by family historians. And of course, many of us think of England as 'where the convicts came from' and being populated by the dregs of that class who were too weak to make the voyage.

LaurenKahn - I'll blame my Scottish heritage - afterall, the Brits have a Scot as Prime Minister and he gets blamed for everything - so I'm in the clear for casting nasturtiums [another home grown one] on our Pommy friends, if not scot-free.

The reference was to a British TV show. I couldn't resist. "Yes, Minister" and "Yes, Prime Minister" were broadcast here years ago and that was one of the lines that one of the main characters said over and over again.

The oft-quoted line from Ian Richardson's character in The House of Cards, "You may very well think that: I couldn't possibly comment" comes to mind as apposite as well.

On the Pom or Pommy matter, in NZ, some people of (usually) English extraction seem to think that it is derogatory in any context, but I concur with farrermog's comment that it is how the expression is used that makes it either a derogatory term or one of endearment. Usually, a reference to someone as a "pommy bastard" will denote an adversely critical appraisal unless the tone of voice indicates otherwise. Being called a bastard doesn't matter -- referring to someone as a "good bastard" is a term of endearment or praise. I guess it's the same in Australia.

You know you're an Australian if ... you'll sling off at all the Kiwis invading Bondi, cohabiting with sheep, mistaking 6 for sex etc ... and roundly beat up any other National who dares say a word about them!

Hey Rob, One of my cousins married a girl from just outside Christchurch, so you can imagine the late night inter-family phone calls when we're playing each other!
We gang up on her parents: There's only 2 of them and 5 or 6 of us who helpfully keep them up to date with the score when we're winning.

Overseas travellers currently in Australia looking for further penetrating insight into the national psyche might consider viewing The Man Inside Dame Edna on ABC1 tonight Thurs 12th, a doco about Barry Humphries, the creator of the legendary (Dame) Edna Everage, (Sir) Les Patterson, and Barry McKenzie.

Dame Edna has spread herself around generously over the years so many will know something of her already. Sir Les, a man of the world as cultured (and self-effacing) as many of the home grown correspondents on this site ("we've got more culture than a penicillin factory"), you may have come across (so to speak, as he would say) in many guises on your travels thus far. Bazza has been resting on his laurels (or is that Laurel?) after giving the Poms a touch up in The Adventures of Barry McKenzie -

which as everyone knows should have beaten The Godfather for Best Picture of 1972.

And travellers looking for a suitable memento for their bookshelves back home could do worse than acquiring a copy of the globe-trotting Sir Les's seminal work The Traveller's Tool, which veritably bulges with invaluable road and carpet tested advice for the business and diplomatic traveller in particular (frinstance, its generous appendix provides ample allowance for a list of sympathetic dry cleaners).

Hi all, thanks for any info on the origin of "poms" though nobody seems really certain.Though I'd much rather resemble a prisoner than a pomegranate!! Anyway we certainly did not find it offensive,there is too much going on in the world to take offence at such trivialities!!
On the subject of a meat and potato pie. A cottage pie is minced beef with a layer of mashed potato on the top, whereas a meat and potato pie is small chunks of meat, potatoes and onion (sometimes a bit of carrot) all cooked together in a gravy and put in a pastry case with a lid.Lovely! My daughter and her family are having withdrawals.
We hope that when we return to Oz maybe later this year that some "pom" will have introduced them or maybe I could bring one over with me. Look out for the newspaper headlines "Pom smuggles meat and potato pie into Oz" Just joking of course!!!

One thing I'm pretty sure of is that the supposed origin of "Pom" as stemming from the initials POME (Prisoner of Mother England) allegedly stencilled on convicts' clothing is a complete canard. I'[d be very surprised if any contemporary sketches or writings mentioned it.

I can't claim any great historical expertise here but I've never seen any support for that phrase ever being used - and if you think about it, it's inherently unlikely term for official use anyway. POHM (Prisoner of His/Her Majesty) is a little more credible but still I suspect also fictitious. Surely the arrows were more than adequate to allow identification, especially among a population that was mostly illiterate.

I did hear a recently-arrived Welsh workmate react to being called (jocularly) a "Pom" by saying "Listen, boyo, where I come from those are fighting words." Clearly he equated "Pom" with "Englishman", so other UK citizens would seem to be in the clear.

I should add that I have no less than six convicts (five English, one Irish) in the family tree.

Some English immigrants are indeed over-sensitive about the word. My wife once used it light-heartedly to one of her staff and was stunned when the woman threatened to lodge a complaint uner Equal Employment Opportunity laws. Sheesh.

One English contributor to the Lounge forum routinely refers to Australians as "tea leaves' (thieves). Me, I couldn't care less.

Well, if "tea leaves" rhymes with "thieves", suppose you could say "pomegranate" rhymes with "immigrant". That was DH Lawrence's explanation, in his novel, "Kangaroo" anyway.

Marly, you didn't search hard enough for pies with chunky (not mince) meat and spuds within the pieshell, we have, even here in the tropics, a remarkable pie purveyor of some 30 varieties - Meldrum's Pies in Paradise! God knows why hot pies are so popular in the sweltering heat of summer, but they are. Meldrum does a wonderful flaky crust, too.

Chunky meat pies aren't new and in fact are widely available in Australia. One of the best I ever had was in central Queensland (Richmond or Cloncurry, can't remember now) and taht was literally decades ago.

Manly, I'd be surprised if the famous Harry's Cafe de Wheels in Wooloomooloo, Sydney (yes, it does exist) couldn't oblige you, but admittedly I haven't been there for a while.

You can also buy English-style cold pork pies in most delis, but I've never seen the point. But then, I've always thought that a ploughman's lunch was a pretty sad affair.

Neil, in a fit of nostalgia I ate a Harry's pie in Sydney when visiting several months ago. I rather wish I hadn't. Didn't notice any with potato inside, but my husband ordered one topped with mashed spuds and a bright green pea sludge on top - the peas were horribly over-sweetened. I've eaten blue boilers before, but mercifully without the extra sugar.